

Humans of Grappling
Humans of Grappling
Exploring the intersection of grappling and everything else in life.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 16, 2024 • 48min
HoG 22: Take Care of Your Mental Health
Mike returns to talk about his personal struggles with mental health and how he has more or less overcome them.

Oct 1, 2023 • 42min
HoG 21: Hedging Against Black Swans in Jiu-Jitsu and Life
After reading 37 whole pages of "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I try to apply it to my life and go down a 3 hour dividend ETF rabbit hole. I reexamine my life for instances of "Mediocristan" and "Extremistan" and how I can set myself up to take advantage of the positives of both, while covering the downsides.

Sep 26, 2023 • 1h
HoG 20: Ecological Randomness
Look at that, a whole year of doing this podcast, only active for 6 months though. Well, I'm back and the only way this is going to be consistent is that it's going to be me rambling about once a week on topics that I'm churning over in my head and relating them to Jiu-Jitsu.
I go off here on Ecological Dynamics (How We Learn to Move by Rob Gray) and "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Mar 16, 2023 • 1h 15min
A White Belt Experience x Humans of Grappling collab!
This was a fun one! Gabe turned the tables on me and interviewed me for his Youtube series, "A White Belt Experience".
We run the gamut of talking about my journey to ADCC Trials round of 16, how I've conceptualized and learned Jiu-Jitsu, how I relate it to Software Development, and of course my favorite buzzword: Ecological Jiu-Jitsu.
Gabe's Youtube channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@GiftWrapGabe
Gabe can be found on instagram @3rounddesign
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts.
Ikuzo… “let’s go!” https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/

Mar 16, 2023 • 1h 18min
HoG 19: Chad Lyman - "Police Jiu-Jitsu"
Chad Lyman is a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) Defensive Tactics coach, 3rd Degree BJJ Black Belt and head coach of Xtreme Couture.
We talk about his journey with Jiu-Jitsu and how he's been trying to get LEOs to train since the early 2000's. He has gone on to teach thousands of LEOs through his seminars and affiliated academies. We also talk about some technical "rolls" he's had while patrolling the streets of Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world.
Chad is making the world a safer place at scale. I truly appreciate his effort.
Chad offers Police DT seminars at https://c4cpjj.com/
Chad can be found on instagram @c4c_operator
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts. Ikuzo… “let’s go!”
https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/

Mar 16, 2023 • 59min
HoG 18: Heather Woods - "How to be a Professional in Jiu-Jitsu"
Heather Woods is a Black Belt under Andre Galvao from Atos HQ. She is a Masters world champ in the gi, 2nd in nogi worlds masters division.
We talk about her time training at Atos HQ and the army of training partners she had there. Heather has traveled, lived, and trained all around the world.
Heather offers an online Jiu-Jitsu coaching program at https://linktr.ee/h.woodsbjj
She can be found on instagram @heathernwoods @h.woodsbjj
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts. Ikuzo… “let’s go!”
https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/

Feb 22, 2023 • 54min
HoG 17: Jimmy House - "Second Chance at Grappling"
Jimmy House is a multi-sport athlete: Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, powerlifter, bodybuilder, professional wrestler, and possibly more!
We talk about lifting for grappling, wrestling, finding Jiu-Jitsu, lightweight vs heavyweight, Nicky Rod claiming natty, and more.
Jimmy can be found @jhouse182 on IG, or @JIMMY_HOUSE on Youtube.
His links can be found at https://linktr.ee/jimmyhouse
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts. Ikuzo… “let’s go!”
https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/

Feb 7, 2023 • 1h 5min
HoG 16: Ryan Scialoia - "Mechanics, Memes, and Meaning"
Returning guest BJJ Fanatics instructor Ryan Scialoia comes back to talk about what he's been excited to learn and teach about in Jiu-Jitsu, content creation, ChatGPT, meaning, etc. It was fun and we got pretty "in the pocket" in this one.
Ryan's links
Instagram @ryanscialoia
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjWhKKpbVWVjnjTCSqinPOQ
https://gofund.me/1e2ccce6
https://bjjfanatics.com/products/law-enforcement-grappling-solutions-by-ryan-scialoia
https://bjjfanatics.com/products/welcome-to-submission-land-by-ryan-scialoia
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts. Ikuzo… “let’s go!”
https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/

Feb 4, 2023 • 1h 18min
HoG 15: Greg Souders - "Ecological Jiu-Jitsu or: How I Learned to Stop Drilling and Love Games"
Coach Greg Souders is the head coach of Standard Jiu-Jitsu. He teaches a 100% nogi program that takes an Ecological approach to training. This takes the form of strategically planned "games" similar to situational sparring in order to develop robust grappling skill without drilling.
Greg is currently accepting 10 black belt, gym owner-coaches who are interested in getting 1:1 guidance on how to coach with the Ecological method he has developed.
https://www.standardjiujitsu.com/
He can be reached on instagram @gdsouders or @standardjiujitsu
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts. Ikuzo… “let’s go!”
https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/

Jan 31, 2023 • 1h 6min
HoG 14: Martin Lopez - "MMA Economics"
Martin Lopez is an MMA economist, grappling competitor, and overall BAMF. We talk about our recent match against each other at High Rollerz, his passion for MMA, why he loves Jiu-Jitsu, our shared training history, and more.
Martin's links:
https://wartape.com/
https://ameriburn.org/resources/burn-survivor-resources/
This episode was sponsored by @ikuzoathletics, check them out for clean, simple rashies and shorts. Ikuzo… “let’s go!”
https://www.ikuzoathletics.com/